Neda Soltani – Strange futures in image usage

Great FP article on Iran’s ‘other’ Neda Soltani, the girl behind the ‘face’ of last summer’s Green Revolution.

A woman named Neda did indeed die last summer on the streets of Tehran, gunned down by members of an Iranian militia. Her full name was Neda Agha-Soltan. But mixed in with the tragic footage of that Neda’s death, broadcast around the world in a viral video that galvanized world opinion against the Iranian regime, was a compelling Facebook snapshot of a smiling young beauty in a flowered headscarf.

Her name was Neda, too — Neda Soltani.

In a Kafka-esque story I missed (along with millions others apparently), the face known as the ‘Angel of Iran’ was apparently pulled from Facebook from a Tehran grad student, still living today, now seeking asylum in Germany. Sadly, the story was broken early on and retractions were offered, but none quite caught on. The Foreign Policy article stands out for following up on the living Neda’s story today and asking what might happen in a news environment with such weak media ethics. Well worth a read for anyone interested in media usage of imagery.